Temptations of John and Ruth

John knew her well. Ruth was the mother of two young children who’d been happily married for six years. As she knelt next to him, he saw her slender legs bending gracefully. Those legs had broken track records only nine years before while she was a student where he taught.

Looking down at the glow of her curly blonde hair, he remembered how bright and optimistic she’d been as a student. Her smile was infectious! She could disagree while smiling and you’d find yourself agreeing to her argument.

She was a rising star among the advanced students and quickly landed a coveted position in a large church where she carried the title of Associate Pastor over Family Ministries.

As a student, she and the professor had sometimes sparred over the significance of current events and the interpretation of scripture. His take was always liberal compared to hers and she sharpened her thinking while trying to change his mind. The class was Christian Ethics.

Recently, they’d carried on a good-natured debate by email and an occasional phone call. She struggled with families breaking under the pressures of predatory economic systems that drew families into debt and forced couples to work long hours to the neglect of their marriage and family.

In one of their exchanges, John, playing the devil’s advocate as he often did, shared his personal translation of a passage from Proverbs expanded with thoughts from Ecclesiastes.

Enjoy life with the woman God has given you to love; for she is a reward in your life of toil. Embrace her, for your time on this earth is a precious gift from the divine. Savor each moment of joy and connection. Whether in steadfast committed love or the fleeting thrill of infidelity, find happiness in the bonds you forge and the memories you create, for they are the only true gifts we share in this life of vanity. Cherish your journey and the companions who share it, for it is in laughter, touch, and whispers of passion that we find our greatest pleasures from our short and meaningless lives.

After the passage, John typed the question, “Would this approach to love not make more sense given the vanity of our existence?” John was still a professor, but his wife, then only 47, had died the year before. Ruth thought his loneliness might explain his translation but, in her response, she railed against his obviously patriarchal bias as his passage flowed from the male perspective. But she did concede that the demands for fidelity sometimes seemed oppressive and one-sided, especially for those who lose a spouse or those who never marry.

To John’s surprise, Ruth finished her response by asking if he’d meet her to discuss this further. The next day, they spent two hours sparring in a local coffee shop just like they had seven years earlier. They laughed freely remembering things that had been said in those ethics classes and catching up on where life had taken some of the students.

That coffee date led to another and then another…and then to this night.

Kneeling next to John, Ruth’s eyes came to rest on a single tear sparkling in the light that fell across the room from a window that looked out over the Dallas skyline
Ruth reached out with her left hand and touched the tear with her fingertip. Looking down at her, John saw a faint glow from the diamond of her wedding ring.

What’s happening? he thought as his mind raced to justify his position. Ruth slowly raised her hand after touching the drop of liquid and a clear threat followed her finger as she placed it to her lips. The salty taste caused an image of Ruth’s husband to flash in her mind and she looked down, puzzling over what was happening.

Still, Ruth remained kneeling. Her eyes traveled from the floor back to John’s penis, hardened and extending toward the ceiling. Inwardly Ruth knew they were both past the point of turning back. Their kisses on the couch only minutes before had seemed innocent at first but she knew she was betraying others from the beginning. From the first meeting for coffee, she knew she the path she was traveling but she’d been enticed by the temptations she’d overcome in the past ad to what end. Now she felt a more intense desire. A desire to know more of life’s pleasures in this vanity of her fleeting existence.